Van Winitsky

Van Winitsky (born March 12, 1959) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He achieved a career-high rankings of World No. 7 in doubles in October 1983 and world No. 35 in singles in February 1984.

Van Winitsky

Country (sports)	United States
Born	(1959-03-12) March 12, 1959 Miami, Florida, U.S.
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro	1978
Retired	1985
Plays	Left-handed
Prize money	$408,120
Singles
Career record	106–133
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 35 (February 8, 1982)
Grand Slam singles results
French Open	3R (1980)
Wimbledon	2R (1978)
US Open	3R (1980)
Doubles
Career record	150–119
Career titles	9
Highest ranking	No. 7 (October 10, 1983)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open	2R (1978, 1980)
Wimbledon	3R (1979)
US Open	F (1983)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon	2R (1979, 1980)

Early and personal life

Winitsky was born in Miami, Florida, lived in Lauderhill, Florida, and is Jewish. His father Manny Winitsky was the best player of his age in Florida for 15 years, beginning at age 45. He lives in Delray Beach, Florida. Van attended North Miami Beach Senior High School and won the Florida state high school singles tennis championships as a freshman in 1974.

Tennis career

Winitsky won Junior Wimbledon, Junior U.S. Open and Junior Nat'l at Kalamazoo, Mich. in singles and doubles in 1977 and won 3 Junior Orange Bowl singles titles. He played college tennis for UCLA for one and a half years, and was an All American. He played on the 1978 U.S. Davis Cup team in with John McEnroe, Brian Gottfried, and Harold Solomon.

Winitsky enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won 9 ATP Tour doubles titles and finished runner-up an additional 11 times. Partnering Fritz Buehning in doubles, Winitsky finished runner-up at the 1983 US Open. Winitsky also was a quarter finalist in mixed doubles partnering with Rayni Fox Borinsky at the 1980 US Open. He won 3 ATP Tour singles titles and finished runner-up 1 additional time. His titles included 1981 Hong Kong Seiko Open over Mark Edmondson of Australia, 1982 Hollywood Bowl Classic in Guaruja, Brazil over Carlos Kirmayr of Brazil, and 1982 Hilton Head Shipyard WCT over Chris Lewis of New Zealand in the finals. His runner-up finish was the 1978 Cleveland Grand Prix against Peter Feigl of Austria.

At just before 21st birthday, he had surgery that resulted in a 16-inch scar and atrophied muscles. In 1985, he retired from ATP Tour after winning the WTT conference championships for the Miami Beach Breakers.

Career finals

Singles (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Aug 1978	Cleveland, U.S.	Hard	Peter Feigl	6–4, 3–6, 3–6
Win	1–1	Nov 1981	Hong Kong	Hard	Mark Edmondson	6–4, 6–7(7–9), 6–4
Win	2–1	Jan 1982	Guarujá, Brazil	Clay	Carlos Kirmayr	6–3, 6–3
Win	3–1	Apr 1982	Hilton Head, U.S.	Clay	Chris Lewis	6–4, 6–4

Doubles (9 titles, 11 runner-ups)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Apr 1978	Tulsa, U.S.	Hard (i)	Russell Simpson	Carlos Kirmayr Ricardo Ycaza	4–6, 7–6, 6–2
Win	2–0	Aug 1978	North Conway, U.S.	Clay	Robin Drysdale	Mike Fishbach Bernard Mitton	4–6, 7–6, 6–3
Loss	2–1	Aug 1978	Boston, U.S.	Clay	Heinz Günthardt	Víctor Pecci Balázs Taróczy	3–6, 6–3, 1–6
Loss	2–2	Sep 1978	Hartford WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Mark Edmondson	John McEnroe Bill Maze	3–6, 6–3, 5–7
Win	3–2	Nov 1978	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Chris Lewis	José Luis Clerc Belus Prajoux	6–4, 3–6, 6–0
Loss	3–3	Apr 1980	Tulsa, U.S.	Hard (i)	Francisco González	Robert Lutz Dick Stockton	6–2, 6–7, 2–6
Loss	3–4	Aug 1980	South Orange, U.S.	Clay	Fritz Buehning	Bill Maze John McEnroe	6–7, 4–6
Win	4–4	Jul 1981	Washington, D.C., U.S.	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	Pavel Složil Ferdi Taygan	5–7, 7–6, 7–6
Loss	4–5	Aug 1981	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	Kevin Curren Steve Denton	3–6, 7–5, 5–7
Win	5–5	Aug 1981	Cleveland, U.S.	Hard	Erik van Dillen	Syd Ball Ross Case	6–4, 5–7, 7–5
Win	6–5	Oct 1981	Tel Aviv, Israel	Hard	Steve Meister	John Feaver Steve Krulevitz	3–6, 6–3, 6–3
Loss	6–6	Nov 1981	Bangkok, Thailand	Carpet	Lloyd Bourne	John Austin Mike Cahill	3–6, 6–7
Loss	6–7	Apr 1982	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Carlos Kirmayr	Sherwood Stewart Ferdi Taygan	6–7, 4–6
Loss	6–8	Apr 1982	Hilton Head WCT, U.S.	Clay	Alan Waldman	Mark Edmondson Rod Frawley	1–6, 5–7
Win	7–8	Jul 1982	Washington, D.C., U.S.	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	Hans Gildemeister Andrés Gómez	7–5, 7–6
Win	8–8	Aug 1982	South Orange, U.S.	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	Jai DiLouie Blaine Willenborg	3–6, 6–4, 6–1
Loss	8–9	Nov 1982	Hong Kong	Hard	Kim Warwick	Charles Strode Morris Strode	4–6, 6–3, 2–6
Loss	8–10	Jan 1983	Guarujá, Brazil	Hard	Shlomo Glickstein	Tim Gullikson Tomáš Šmíd	7–5, 6–7, 3–6
Loss	8–11	Sep 1983	U.S. Open	Hard	Fritz Buehning	Peter Fleming John McEnroe	3–6, 4–6, 2–6
Win	9–11	Sep 1983	Dallas, U.S.	Hard	Nduka Odizor	Steve Denton Sherwood Stewart	6–3, 7–5

See also

• List of select Jewish tennis players

External links

• Van Winitsky at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Van Winitsky at the International Tennis Federation
• Van Winitsky on X